


Only To Be Kind

by AlmostSilent



Series: Abandoned Stories For All Ye Who Enter Here. [1]
Category: Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, But not on purpose, Enjolras being cruel, Gen, Grantaire & Éponine Thénardier Friendship, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, M/M, Pining Grantaire, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-24
Updated: 2014-11-24
Packaged: 2018-02-26 22:20:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2668463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlmostSilent/pseuds/AlmostSilent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Enjolras is thoughtlessly cruel and sends Grantaire away. He starts to realise his mistake, but is it too late?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Only To Be Kind

**Author's Note:**

> Title is of course from Hamlet 'I must be cruel only to be kind'. 
> 
> This is just something I started to write with a longer fic in mind, but it got abandoned because I lost inspiration. Wanted to share it anyway because I thought you guys might enjoy it, or even get inspired maybe?
> 
> Anyway, hope you like <3
> 
> (ETA: because of that whole ebooks-tree thing (information can be found [here](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Ebooks_Tree).) this is the official disclaimer that while I don't own the characters, I do own the work and I don't give permission for it to be posted anywhere else without my explicit permission. )

Grantaire promised himself from the beginning that if Enjolras ever asked him to leave, he would go. He doubts he could actually deny Enjolras anything, even this. Grantaire can see how much Enjolras despises him, but still, he's never asked him to leave before.

Of course, that was bound to change at some point. And really, even Grantaire knows that this time it wasn't even his fault. Enjolras had been in a bad mood before he even came into the cafe that day, and Grantaire knew better than to push him when he was in a truly bad mood. For his part, Grantaire stayed at his table, laughing with Jehan and nursing his black coffee. Of course he stopped what he was doing and listened attentively as soon as Enjolras started to speak. 

They were coordinating their efforts for the upcoming marriage equality protest, and while usually Grantaire would have a few choice comments about marriage statistics and facts about the harsh reality of the history of equal rights, he remained silent in deference to Enjolras’ obvious mood. With great personal effort mind you.

Approaching Enjolras after the meeting had wound down hadn’t felt like the biggest mistake of his life, and yet...

“Can I help you Grantaire?”

“I was just wondering what you wanted on the signs,” he shrugged, “I mean, if you had anything specific in mind.”

“I thought Feuilly was doing the signs?” Enjolras asked, clearly confused.

“He's making them,” Grantaire nodded, “but he asked me to design and paint them.”

“No.”

“Pardon?” Grantaire's eyebrows shot up.

“No. I'm not having a drunk being responsible for our signs, that's not happening,” Enjolras scowled.

“There's a lot of signs to do,” Grantaire said, trying to control his anger as much as possible, “Feuilly can't do them all himself, and besides, I am in fact more than capable of this small task.”

“You're capable of screwing it up,” Enjolras retorted, stepping forward to point a finger in Grantaire's face. “You are utterly incapable of anything besides being a useless drunk. I don't know why you even bother, honestly.”

“Neither do I,” Grantaire can't help but mutter bitterly. The anger diluted by the soul-crushing blow that Enjolras' words were capable of.

“Maybe you should just leave Grantaire, I can't understand why you ever thought you belonged here in the first place.” 

Grantaire had to swallow around the lump that had formed in his throat. He was very acutely aware that all of their friends had gone silent to watch their train wreck of an argument. Grantaire could only nod once, albeit a little stiffly before turning around to grab his bag and leaving as quickly as possible. After all, if Enjolras told him to jump, he'd ask 'Off which bridge?'.

-

Enjolras could feel the guilt creeping up on him, even before Eponine was in his face, snarling at him.

“What the fuck was that?” 

“I don't have the time or patience to deal with this. Grantaire is nothing but a hindrance to us, always drunk and arguing with everything I say,” Enjolras knows his defence is weak, even to his own ears. But that doesn't make it any less true.

“You're so full of shit,” Eponine spits back. “For one, R's been sober for over a fucking month now, which you'd notice if you ever took your head out of your own fucking arse. And he wasn't even arguing with you today, all he was doing was fucking helping you!”

Enjolras was actually struck speechless at that. Had Grantaire really been sober for a month? How could he not have noticed that?

“I...I need to go,” he frowned, gathering up his books and papers before making his way out to his car. He had some serious thinking to do.

Back at the flat he shared with Combeferre, he locked himself away in his room and tried to sort through his thoughts. 

Enjolras could admit that he had been a little harsh with Grantaire tonight, but that didn't mean he wasn't right. Except, maybe it did. Maybe he was actually in the wrong here. If Grantaire had stopped drinking without him even noticing, maybe there was more about the cynic that Enjolras had been overlooking. The thought left a bitter, hollow feeling in him. Guilt, he realised, he was feeling guilty. But that wasn’t all, it was more than that. He just wasn’t sure what exactly it was.

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know what you guys think, and if you do get inspired and create something from this please let me know :D
> 
> You can find me on [tumblr here](http://almostsilent.tumblr.com/).


End file.
